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1/5/18

Review: Tom Ford Private Shadows with Swatches of the Neutral Shades

I only have one of Tom Ford's eyeshadow quads (this one in Nude Dip and I really love it), but his products are hit or miss with me. That being said, most of the items I have purchased from the line recently have been impressing me more and more. Most of the foundation formulas I have tried really work well on my skin (rotating between this one and this one), and there were a ton of his lip colors in my Best of Beauty 2017 video. When I saw he came out with solo shadows (you guys know how much I love a one shadow look!), I had to pick some up. Naturally I went with all neutrals and tried to stay away from fully matte shades since I have been gravitating towards shades with a bit of shimmer to them recently. There are multiple textures in the entire line and the 5 I picked up were a mix of sateen, suede, vinyl and paillette.

I love his Nude Dip quad and find that the pigmentation is quite strong, and I have swatched his other eyeshadow quads in store and always find them rich in color. So I was very surprised to find some of the formulas for these shadows quite weak in pigmentation or too powdery to get an even application. The vinyl texture was my favorite, had the most pigmentation and blended seamlessly. The sateen and suede formulas were very powdery and needed a few applications to give a significant payoff. The paillette texture looked the most beautiful in the packaging but was my least favorite formula. It's too chunky to get an even application, unless applied over an emollient creamy eyeshadow. Body Double (vinyl) was the standout favorite for me in both color and texture, though I wished Hush and Exposure (sateen and suede) would have been made in a vinyl texture instead because the colors are beautiful.

Overall, these were a like for me but not a love. And I only prefer the vinyl formulation. I didn't try any of the matte shadows so perhaps those would have worked for me as well, but I wanted something with a bit of sheen to it. I think it's worth picking up a shade or two, but I myself wouldn't invest in more than that.

Shop more solo shadow formulations that I love:

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